title: [Van Heerden: the first female doctor in South Africa].
abstract: Petronella van Heerden (1887-1975) was born in South Africa. She studied medicine in Amsterdam from 1908 to 1915 and then worked as the first female doctor in her native country for 4 years before specialising in gynaecology in London. She then returned to Amsterdam, where she gained a PhD in 1923 on a thesis on endometriosis that was written in Afrikaans. She settled in Cape Town and participated in many political and emancipatory activities alongside her work as a doctor. She wrote two autobiographies.
authors.affiliation: AMC, afd. Gynaecologie en Obstetrie, Amsterdam.
authors.forename: Frits B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Lammes
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000266:history*; D013019:South Africa; D014933:Women's Rights / Q000266:history